Celebrities ring in weddings with media deals, videos, sponsorships

New Delhi: Indian film, music, and sports celebrities are actively capitalizing on their weddings through a diverse array of partnerships. While many celebrities get brands to sponsor attires, jewellery or venues, actor Parineeti Chopra and playback singer Neha Kakkar have forged alliances with music labels to produce special wedding songs. Separately, actors Nayanthara and Richa Chadha are working to create full-length documentaries around their nuptials.

Furthermore, sharing exclusive wedding photos with the public has become a common practice. While the allure of letting audiences partake in a celebrity’s life is fuelling such deals, industry experts said celebrities view these partnerships as a means to sustain their relevance in the public eye.

Depending on the specific deliverables, industry experts suggest that such deals can range from ₹1.5 crore to ₹10 crore. “Celebrities figure that they are popular faces and ensure enough publicity for these events that are clearly not intended to be private. There can be content created around the wedding such as pictures, video footage or songs and can extend even to a movie, music album or documentary. The advantage is that the cost of production, technically, is negligible,” Saurabh Uboweja, managing partner at BOD (Brands of Desire) Consulting, a management consultancy firm said.

At the same time, key expenses such as the venue or destination, photographers and videographers, apparel and jewellery often either come with significant discounts or as part of barter deals where the company can publicize having worked on the wedding on their social media.

Their strategy, inspired by trends from Hollywood, revolves around securing exclusive rights to wedding content, leveraging fan curiosity, and using the event to boost engagement, website traffic, and overall performance metrics, according to Mitesh Kothari, co-founder and chief creative officer at digital agency White Rivers Media.

Celebrity weddings present diverse monetization opportunities, including broadcast and photo rights, exclusive interviews, merchandise, and more, with rates varying widely based on factors like celebrity status and media demand, spanning from thousands to millions of dollars, said Sushmita Sinha, associate director, key accounts at TheSmallBigIdea, a digital and social media marketing agency. These rates are subject to individual negotiation and market conditions, offering flexible and lucrative revenue options for celebrities.

“Various entities strategically capitalize on celebrity weddings, including media outlets, TV networks, digital media, brands, event planners, security firms, merchandisers, venues, streaming platforms, and NFT platforms. They employ specific strategies to maximize their objectives, such as exclusive coverage, tailored content, endorsements, privacy management, merchandise creation, and more,” Sinha said.

Celebrity weddings have always been a big draw around the world and the trend comes from Hollywood, media industry experts point out.

“This has now become institutionalized with media entities bidding for exclusive display and broadcast rights. The trend was bound to be followed in India where the entertainment industry is large and varied. It’s quite possible that India will throw up a lot more than pictures and videos to sell. The two celebrities in question will have individual brand values in the market, but as a couple, their combined brand value increases exponentially. This is borne out of famous couples appearing together in advertising and endorsements,” Nidha Luthra, executive director at advertising agency Thought Blurb Communications said.

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